


The Price of Devotion

by kaeropteran



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Fire Emblem: Thracia 776
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:41:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25906735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaeropteran/pseuds/kaeropteran
Summary: The tokens he carried to show his devotion were but his futile attempts to live out a tale from legend.And sometimes, reality was as cruel as the tragedies of storybooks.Reinhardt-centric drabbles about his relationship with Ishtar; inspired from Celtic myths
Relationships: Ishtar/Reinhardt (Fire Emblem)
Kudos: 10





	1. cravat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cravat he tied around his neck was pure white, until she declared that she had all but abandoned him.

_"If you return with her, raise white sails. If they are black, then I will know that she has abandoned me forever."_

* * *

He had never been a sociable child. He was too serious, his face was too threatening, and his words were too harsh. The only person he was truly able to hold a conversation with was his sister, Olwen, until he met her. 

Lady Ishtar, the young daughter of Lord Bloom of House Friege, was a few years his junior, and they were as different as night and day. She was a child who loved people, who smiled easily, and was all too eager to please. 

But they had found one another by chance, in the library of Castle Friege, furiously consuming books of magic and tales of mythical adventures. 

From then on they were inseparable. Even after she manifested the brand of Thrud, he remained at her side as her guard, and they honed their skills together as mages of Friege. Even after she became known as the goddess of lightning, he made a name for himself as the reincarnation of Thrud, for the only way he was allowed to stay at the side of a goddess was to become a demigod himself. 

She gifted him a cravat upon his promotion to the leadership of the Friege troops, the cloth colored a pure white. He swore that he would wear this, always, as a sign of his unwavering loyalty, a promise to always return to her side, in an imitation of the stories they had loved as children. 

They grew up alongside each other, and even though he no longer stammered when he spoke and his fame as the military commander of Friege's troops grew, he still felt as helpless as a child. He could do nothing but watch as her smiles give way to brooding frowns, her shoulders slumping with the weight of her father's expectations, her mother's ambitions.

And when she fell in love with the prince who kidnapped children and killed men for amusement, he was no longer sure whether he recognized her -- the woman he loved, the liege he served, the goddess he revered. 

One day, she declared that she did not need him at her side anymore, that she had all but abandoned him. 

Where did a knight without a master go, he wondered.

Before he set out to battle at the River Thracia, he cast one final look at the cravat his liege had bestowed upon him, the white blinding his eyes to the point that they burned in their sockets and his vision blurred. 

He wiped at his eyes before the tears could fall, and he fastened a black cravat around his neck, and it felt like a noose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The black sail/white sail theme seems to be more famous in the Ancient Greek myth with Theseus and Aegeus, but I used the version from the Tristan and Isolde legend here as the inspiration instead...
> 
> (If anyone's interested, in the myth, Tristan gets a mortal wound and the only person who can heal him is Iseult, and he sends someone to fetch her and to return with white sails if she agrees to come and heal him, black sails otherwise.)


	2. blade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sword he wore at his hip was a symbol of his unwavering loyalty, his determination, and his promise to protect himself.

_The king found them asleep, fully clothed, with a naked sword between them, and he took it as a sign of their loyalty to him._

* * *

"Take this, Reinhardt," she said. 

"Such a magnificent sword..." Reinhardt examined the blade with awe, but then hesitated. "But would it not be better for you to keep this? Are you sure you would bestow such a precious item to me?"

"You know I'm no good at swordplay, Reinhardt," she smiled wryly. "And if you are to be my guard and protect me, you must first protect yourself. Promise me."

"I promise." He gratefully accepted the gift, and he swore on the blade that he would never fail her. 

* * *

"Sporting such a sword is too good for you, boy." An older Friege knight taunted. "Which noble family are you from, to be able to afford such a blade?"

"It was a gift from the Lady Ishtar. I-I am her guard." Try as he might, Reinhardt could not keep the fear from creeping into his voice as the older man towered over him. 

"The lady must not have good eyes, to give a unblooded boy a sword he is not worthy of."

"You are insulting the heir to the house you serve." Reinhardt grit his teeth, and this time his voice did not shake. He gripped the hilt of the sword at his hip, and the rage he felt at the knight's insult toward the lady he served erased all thoughts of fear. "Take those words back, sir, otherwise I am bound by duty and honor to force you to do so." 

"Is that a challenge?" The knight's hand went to his own sword, but before he could draw it from its scabbard, there was a sudden crack of thunder and a flash of light. When his eyes refocused, Reinhardt found Lady Ishtar standing at his side, and the patch of grass mere millimeters from the foot of the older knight had been reduced to ash and charred earth. 

"Sir, it is uncouth to pick on knights younger than you. Besides, this is a garden, not the training grounds; if you have lost your way, I will be more than happy to show you." 

After the knight flushed red with embarrassment and hastily blurted out his apologies and made his leave, Ishtar turned toward Reinhardt and gave a relieved laugh. "That went... better than I expected."

"I... Thank you, my lady, for protecting me." He sank to his knees before her.

"There is no need for thanks, Reinhardt, you are my knight. It is the duty of a lord to protect their retainers. Besides, I should be thanking you. You were prepared to draw your blade for me. Thank you."

She suddenly looked up, at something, someone, behind him, and he turned to see the figure of the young prince, Prince Julius, walking with his father across the yard. The reigning emperor of Grannvale and his heir had come for business a fortnight ago to Castle Friege, and, not for the first time, Reinhardt looked back at Lady Ishtar and felt a twinge of envy in his heart for not having been born to one of the proud lineages of legend. 

In the moonlight, Ishtar's hair shone like liquid silver, and her cheeks were dusted with a flush of red. 

Reinhardt rose to his feet, a wry smile on his lips, and urged his lady to the side of the prince, the weight of the sword at his side suddenly growing heavier. 

_Let this be the sword in our metaphorical bed,_ he thought. _For as long as this blade remains at my hip, I will protect you as your knight, but I cannot, will not, love you as a man._

* * *

Time had passed since then, and now no knight dared to cross Reinhardt's path without fear of defeat. Lord Lief's ragtag army was fighting its way across Thracia, and the scion of light, Lord Seliph, had also arrived with his Liberation Army after defeating Grannvale influence in Isaach. 

As far as he knew, Thracian rebellions were crushed as easily as they had sprung up, and he had never thought much of the rumors of the might of Lief of Leonster. He had never once doubted that the knights of Friege under his command would prevail again, even against the weapons of the crusaders of myth. And especially so if he and Lady Ishtar led the defense. 

However, just as he prepared to give his report and strategem for defending Manster to Lady Ishtar, he overheard the exchange between an angered Prince Julius and the woman he had served since childhood. 

"Reinhardt!? But he has been my personal guard since I was a child. I need him."

"I don't care. I don't like him...I don't like the way he looks at you. If he appears in front of me again, I'll kill him!"

He didn't care to stay to hear the rest, and sighed in resignation. _So I didn't hide my feelings as well as I had thought._

Though he protested against the order, it didn't come as much of a surprise when Lady Ishtar assigned him to guard the fort at River Thracia -- without her -- separating them for one of the first times since they were children. 

* * *

"This is my last gift to you. Take it!"

"This... This is your most prized sword!"

"Yes... it was given to me by Lady Ishtar, but I have no need for it any longer. You should have it now."

"By why? It seemed so... precious to you."

* * *

_"If you are to be my guard and protect me, you must first protect yourself."_ He smiled sadly as he remembered the promise he gave when Lady Ishtar granted him the sword. 

And then he felt the cold edge of the blade at his neck. 

_Forgive me, my lady, it seems I will no longer be able to keep my promise._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is also taken from certain versions of Tristan and Iseult... (if anyone's interested, it's when King Mark gets "proof" of their infidelity and they flee the kingdom, only for the king to find them asleep with a naked sword between them and they reconcile)
> 
> I know Reinhardt's feelings for Ishtar are never explicitly confirmed to be love (and I'm of the opinion that it's closer to idolization), but since this piece is in his perspective, he more or less believes that it's love and devotion that he feels toward her...
> 
> The dialogue toward the end are between Julius and Ishtar in Chapter 21x, and between Olwen and Reinhard in Chapter 22 of Thracia 776, from serenesforest scripts


	3. flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reinhardt and Ishtar run away together

_She fell in love with a man on the night of her wedding, a man who was not the same as the one she was to wed. The man had a mole beneath his eye, a love spot that was blessed and cursed to make maidens fall for him._

* * *

"Let's run away. Together."

The silence stretched out for a heartbeat, then two, and then for an eternity. She looked up at him with eyes of liquid amethyst that held back endless questions. Her gaze flitted down at his outstretched hand and then back up again, and the rush of blood in his ears and the battering of his heart against the cage of his ribs were louder than thunder. 

Finally, miraculously, she left her questions unspoken, and reached out her hand, slowly, cautiously, and gingerly placing it in his own.

* * *

_With a geas, she forced him to run away with her, and it seemed as if they would spend the rest of their lives escaping from the lord whose trust he betrayed, the husband whose hand she scorned._

* * *

They fled north, toward Connaught, and afterwards planned to take the roads west out of the Thracian peninsula and into Isaach, where Grannvalian influence had recently been ousted by the forces of the Liberation Army. 

They packed as much as they could into the saddlebags of their horses and draped cloaks around themselves to hide their identities. For a fortnight, they camped out in the forests and avoided the eyes of men, but once their food ran out, they were forced to enter a town near Connaught, which had recently fallen. 

The tavern was crowded and rowdy, and Ishtar's hood was pulled low over her eyes to hide her silver hair. However, a short scuffle with a drunken man soon made it clear that she was Friege royalty, but before Reinhardt could draw his sword and threaten the man to silence, he heard a familiar voice call out. 

"Ishtar?"

The owner of the voice was Tine, Ishtar's little cousin who had defected to the Liberation Army led by Seliph, son of Lord Sigurd of Chalphy. She was accompanied by a young man, whose silver hair and resemblence to Tine betrayed his parentage. 

Immediately, Reinhardt moved forwards, shoving Ishtar behind him, his hand on the sword at his hip. They could trust no one, especially not those who knew their identities. 

"So it was true." Suddenly a grin broke out across Tine's lips. "You escaped."

He did not remember the girl being quite so tall or having as steady or confident a voice as the one she possessed now. His grip on the scabbard tightened as she approached them, until he felt Ishtar's hand on his own. The goddess of lightning stepped out from behind him to meet her cousin. 

"You look well, Tine."

"I am well. Please, cousin, will you come join us, at least for the night? We have much to catch up on."

Behind Tine, the young man furrowed his brows, and Reinhardt was certain that he, too, mirrored the boy's expression of suspicion and unease. 

They spent the night in the castle her father died to defend, with the men and women who had slain him. In the end, however, they stayed with the army, and the charismatic Lord Seliph eagerly welcomed them into their ranks, despite the distrust that brewed among his soldiers.

* * *

_After years of being on the run, the knight and his lady reconciled with their lord and were finally allowed peace. They had five children together, and they would live happily ever after._

* * *

It was all for naught, in the end. 

"Did you think I would forgive you traitors?" The voice, despite how hoarse and vindictive it sounded, belonged to Prince Julius, his hands like claws, the nails digging into the shoulder of Lady Ishtar. In his free hand, he brandished his tome, the magic swirling from it black with malice. "I promised to kill you if you appeared before me again."

Reinhardt stood his ground as the waves of darkness hurled toward him, but before he could draw out his own tome, he hit the ground hard, pain erupting from his limbs, his torso. 

"Ish...tar..." The last he saw of her were the coldness of her purple eyes, her silver hair dyed red with his blood. 

Despite his fading consciousness, her words were as clear as if she had spoken into his ear. "I no longer need you at my side, Reinhardt."

And suddenly he was no longer dying, though he might as well have been. He was kneeling before his liege, dreading the words he knew that would come from her mouth. "I will be fine without you, Reinhardt; I have Prince Julius at my side. Fall back to River Thracia, and guard Manster against the rebels."

Reinhardt sat up in bed, his skin covered in a sheen of cold sweat.

_What a terrible dream to have before a battle._

What a terrible fantasy to have seen when he knew, in truth, that neither a geas nor a love spot would be able to convince Lady Ishtar to run away with him, to join the side of the righteous traitors who had killed her brother and father, to escape from the monster that inhabited the body of Prince Julius, though he was not sure whether it was from fear, duty, love, or a twisted combination of them all. 

He had been abandoned by his liege, one of the few people he could believe in despite the atrocities of the Empire and the Friege army he served. And though he would guard the river with his own Gelben Ritter, fellow knights whom he had trained and fought alongside through many battles, he had never felt so alone.

* * *

_There would be no happy end to this tragedy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm... I'm not exactly satisfied with how this ended up, but I think this nicely wraps up the Celtic myth inspired drabbles about Reinhardt and Ishtar.
> 
> The myth this time is from The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne, where Gráinne doesn't feel like marrying an old man and decides to run away with one of her husband-to-be's knights, Diarmuid, who also had a famous love spot. There's an intricate Wikipedia page on this story and I don't want to make this note too long, but this couple also has a sad ending where Diarmuid ends up dying because the lord never forgave him.
> 
> In case anything wasn't clear, Reinhardt dreamt about running away with Ishtar to join the Liberation Army the night before the Battle at River Thracia against Lief's forces, and even in the dream the poor guy doesn't get a break. :( 
> 
> sorry ~~not sorry~~ Reinhardt
> 
> ~~I really wanted to recruit Ishtar in FE4~~


End file.
